How Much Does Spain Recycle? Talk About the Environment in Spanish

Key vocabulary

• basuraf.

  trash, garbage

  “La basura se recoge todos los lunes.”— The trash is collected every Monday.

  Pattern tirar la basura — to throw away trash

  Compare residuo (m.)

  Plural: basuras

  💡 From Latin versura, originally meaning "something swept away."

• toneladaf.

  ton, metric ton

  “España genera millones de toneladas de residuos.”— Spain generates millions of tons of waste.

  Pattern millones de toneladas — millions of tons

  Plural: toneladas

  💡 The root tonel means "large barrel"; in ancient times, barrels were used for measurement.

• vertederom.

  landfill, dump

  “La basura termina en el vertedero.”— The garbage ends up in the landfill.

  Pattern vertedero municipal — municipal dump

  Compare basurero (m.)

  Plural: vertederos

  💡 Formed from verter (to dump) + dero (place suffix).

• reciclarv.

  to recycle

  “Debemos reciclar más en casa.”— We should recycle more at home.

  Pattern reciclar papel — to recycle paper

  Compare reutilizar (v.)

  Conjugation: reciclo, reciclas, recicla...

  💡 Prefix re- (again) + ciclo (cycle).

• leyf.

  law

  “La ley exige reciclar más.”— The law requires more recycling.

  Pattern cumplir la ley — to obey the law

  Compare normativa (f.)

  Plural: leyes

  💡 Note that the plural form is leyes, not leys.

• objetivom.

  goal, objective

  “El objetivo es reciclar el 50%.”— The goal is to recycle 50%.

  Pattern cumplir un objetivo — to achieve a goal

  Compare meta (f.)

  Plural: objetivos

  💡 From Latin obiectivus, meaning "objective," extended to mean "goal."

• comunidadf.

  autonomous community, community

  “Cataluña es una comunidad autónoma.”— Catalonia is an autonomous community.

  Pattern comunidad autónoma — autonomous community

  Compare región (f.)

  Plural: comunidades

  💡 From Latin communitas, cognate with común (common).

• sistemam.

  system

  “El sistema de reciclaje no funciona bien.”— The recycling system doesn't work well.

  Pattern sistema de recogida — collection system

  Compare método (m.)

  Plural: sistemas

  💡 From Greek systema, meaning "combination."

Grammar spotlight

Sentence patterns to steal

• Cada año, España genera más de 20 millones de toneladas de basura.

  Every year, Spain generates more than 20 million tons of waste.

  Cada año, [country] genera más de [quantity] de [noun].You can replace the country, quantity, and noun to describe annual data.

• La ley exige reciclar el 50% desde 2020, pero en 2023 solo se llegó al 43%.

  The law has required recycling 50% since 2020, but in 2023 it only reached 43%.

  La ley exige [infinitive] [quantity] desde [year], pero en [year] solo se llegó a [quantity].You can replace the verb, percentages, and years to contrast a requirement with the actual result.

• El problema es estructural, dice un experto de Greenpeace.

  The problem is structural, says an expert from Greenpeace.

  El problema es [adjective], dice [person].You can replace the adjective and the source of the quote to cite opinions.